Old So What

  is the glowing optimism of Cecilia Blomdahl, the host.   She looks at all glasses as being half full. She glories in the Arctic cold and wind and snow in the winter months, and in the yellow Arctic Poppies in the summer. She smiles and draws a kind of life force from the Northern Lights (Those exquisite undulating waves of color that float so high above in the sky; technically the aurora borealis.) Frankly, Cecilia is a life force all her own; seeing the adventure in life as something to run toward, something to enjoy.   She expects the best and makes the best of whatever the results turn out to be. Her optimism is contagious! Cecilia is a life force of positive expectations that just like dreams in a Disney movie, really do come true.  

  Svalbard does not allow cats because of the potential for them to escape their indoor homes, and run loose on the tundra; then perhaps stalk and eliminate the local bird populations, of which there are many during the warmer months, including: Common Cranes and Purple Sandpipers. Also, the island does not allow anyone to remain when they can no longer financially or physically take care of themselves. There are no services or care homes for the elderly, or any form of public transportation. I personally find this discrimination in its worse form:   Age-based instead of ability-based.   But would I want to live through the rough conditions, including carrying a gun to scare away (and try not to actually kill the polar bears unless absolutely necessary)? No thank you!   I pass on that one.  

On the streaming channel that has videos on absolutely everything, there lives a channel hosted by Cecilia Blomdahl. She is Swedish but. I think that it is Norwegian that she’s speaking to her boyfriend, Christopher, and her fluffy, furry Finnish Lapphund dog, Grim. As someone who has some Norwegian heritage in her somewhere, I really enjoy hearing the language. It has a happy lilt to it! Grim is always smiling and so it seems is their spoken word, There is a happy relationship, too, between Cecilia and Christopher, both in their relationship to each other and the frozen world they inhabit inside the Arctic Circle, 500 miles from the North Pole.   But they’d be the first to admit that the true star of the show is Grim! He is a phenomenon of beauty, grace and affection.  Watching him is a total treat and you never have to worry about his care (which I always do when viewing animal shows.)  Grim is cared for superbly by his human companions.  This is a total love...